


Wisp

by likebunnies



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 22:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11450001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likebunnies/pseuds/likebunnies
Summary: A ficlet set after the finale of season two. Instead of running away, Crane stays and mourns his losses and with Abbie, he sees that there is more he could lose.





	Wisp

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after season two. I was pretty heartbroken about real life things then. Now I'm just angry. :)

Abbie found him where she always did when he went missing, sitting on the floor in the ruins of the old church that his deceased son took his name from. Crane wasn’t a particularly religious man so she didn’t know what he did here. Did he pray? For what? For things to be the way they used to be?

Even she found herself asking for that from God every once in a while. Just take her back to that diner with Corbin and she wouldn’t walk into any of this again. She’d have gone to Quantico. Corbin would be alive. And Crane… she didn’t know.

Then again, fate always got the better of everyone eventually. No matter what happened that night, it was inevitable that she would be standing in this church while this man sat on the floor, waiting for answers that were never going to come.

This man. Her partner. The other Witness. Her best friend.

And for all that, she didn’t know what to say to him about everything he lost. Sure, she said the usual words everyone said to a mourning person but she should be able to do more. He was all of those things – partner, witness, friend – but he was so much more. He turned to look at her, his eyes bluer than she remembered. Or maybe just sadder.  
He had grown thinner over the last few weeks, slowly disappearing into a shadow of that man she had met in full uniform in another lifetime. She and Jenny both tried to get him to eat but he obviously wasn’t unless they were putting the plate in front of him. His hair was a mess, hanging around his face, long and loose. She wasn’t even sure the last time he had slept in a bed.

“Are you trying to die of a broken heart? Is that what this is? It doesn’t work that way. Not by itself and I’m certainly not going to help you out. I almost lost you… God… one too many times. You aren’t going to to do this,” Abbie said, approaching him. Her footsteps sounded so heavy on the old wooden floor, echoing through the structure and he shook slightly with each step she took.

She sank down on her knees in front of him and took his hands in hers. They were dry, like autumn leaves, and cold. Their eyes met briefly, and then he quickly looked down at their hands.

“Terrible things have happened to you – to all of us – but you can’t give up. I can’t do this without you,” she said, hoping for any kind of response. Abbie could feel tears forming in her eyes but she blinked them away. She had to be the strong one today. Maybe tomorrow he'd have to be the strong one while she cried about all she had lost but today, she'd try to hold back her tears. Besides, some things were just too big for tears anyway.

“I’m scared,” he said simply. Quietly. Barely a whisper in this enormous room.

“Of?”

“I’m scared of losing more in the battles we still face. Of losing something that I can never recover from,” he said, looking up at her once more. “I don’t want to find out if one can truly die from a broken heart.”

Abbie smiled at him, squeezing his hands in hers. A tear finally escaped and rolled down her cheek. Crane pulled one of his hands free and caught it with the edge of his thumb, letting it roll down to his palm.

“As long as we’re in this together, you aren’t going to have to worry about that. Nothing is going to happen to either of us if we’re together. We’ll be safe with each other. But, Crane, you have to eat. And maybe get a haircut. Also try sleeping a little. I’m not kidding. I can’t do this without you,” Abbie said.

And for the first time in weeks, she saw a tiny bit of hope in his eyes.


End file.
